 Coming back down You know what the keyword is Brain brain and yes, I will tell you what I'm listening to in the studio tonight. All right I'm taking off the vest Right now and now is the time for speed work up here with tired Legs. Oh baby. Oh my legs my legs are tired. All right. Here we go and away We go. All right great day up in the mountains working on some brain power some mental toughness in the soccany mad River TRs Cross some creeks and didn't even care because the drainage in the shoe is amazing So I will give you the full review on that and I think I still got about 25 miles to go So it'll be here sooner rather than later. Okay, so today's workout the goal There were two goals for today one was to work on my ankle Suppleness so the strength and flexibility of my ankles and number two was to work on the mental toughness the brain power Leading into pike's peak. So I went nine miles 5100 feet of vertical gain and here it is in meters So what I did is I went to the top with the 20 pound weighted vest And then I ran halfway back down Dropped the vest off. You saw me do that and then did a basically a fart lick a eight by two minutes on one minute off So 24 minutes of fart lick work up above 12,500 feet without the vest so the goal well, okay, maybe there was another goal I wanted to Attempt to run fast up high with tired legs So that's why I started with the vest and then ditched it and then did the fart lick as hard as I basically Basically all out for two minutes uphill and then I jogged a minute back down and that was today's workout So solid day up in the mountains and you might be asking yourself set why on earth? Would you wear a 20 pound vest up a 14 000 foot mountain? Well, here it is I am going to lean in To this muscle memory Meaning my literally my memories of my brain of the pain that I felt on mount beer stat In two and a half weeks from now on the pike's peak ascent in the last Basically the last five miles of the race I will be able to tell myself and remind myself when the race really starts to hurt. Wait a minute I'm 20 pounds lighter. I don't have a vest on my back. I got this I can get up this mountain faster than what i'm going right now So that is the idea that is one of the ideas of wearing that vest and listen like I said up there Don't go out and buy a vest and start training in it. It took me Seriously, it took me four to five years of ultra running So long distance races to feel like my legs and my back and everything else were strong enough to be able to withstand The extra weight of a weighted vest So be careful But and I will not do weighted vest training for a marathon Although I think for ultra running and mountain running. I think it's okay. At least I I love it I it gives me an edge mentally and I think a little bit physically as well Now as much as we can work our brain, right mentally, I always say fitness does not lie I believe fitness outranks mental toughness especially in running I think in basketball hockey like you can have some lucky shots I frankly don't think there's luck in long distance running. I I mean call me crazy But you can be I think you can be very mentally tough like the last let's say two laps of a 10k on on the track Or the last 300 meters in a two mile state championship on the track So there are moments when you can definitely dig deep, but I'm telling you fitness doesn't lie So, okay three more quick points on how I develop mental toughness. Here we go first point Teach yourself to enjoy the pain and again just takes time. I've been running for 20 years It probably didn't dawn on me until Probably when I was at cu But especially when I started getting into ultra running to teach myself to enjoy the pain cave, okay Point number two put yourself in uncomfortable situations like I did today Now you got to walk that line don't do it too often But I think the last month three weeks leading into a peak race I'm not afraid to put myself into a couple Uncomfortable situations where I have to really ask myself how bad do I want this and that was one of the cases today It's also going to happen in three days from now So put yourself in uncomfortable situations and last point point number three real quick To build mental toughness work on that brain power connects to the air pod here What I was listening to up on the mountain. I'm a storyteller. I love stories I love history not a science not a math guy I think stories can make us tough and can teach us the ways of true grit And frankly when I'm in pain up on the mountain And up on the mountains and my legs are barking at me and my lungs are burning and the sweat's coming down my brow I just listened to the story of teddy roosevelt leaving new york That's what I was listening to today an audiobook of teddy leaving new york going out west to the badlands to hunt Buffalo to meet the native americans to almost starve to death out there like he went through some crazy adventures And he came out the other end after putting himself in an uncomfortable situation came out much much tougher To the point where he led an army up san juan hill as you all know in cuba In the battle of um san juan hill uh with the rough riders That's what I was thinking of with the rough riders. So I listened to people who personify Toughness and true grit mentally focused As they are pursuing their goals and dreams and so when i'm up on the mountain i'm listening to these stories and I tell myself I can do this if they can survive out west with no amenities I can survive up here at least today on mount beer stat with a little bit of grit pulling from these storytellers So anyway, that is my third and final point. I don't know if any of you do that. Actually, let's do it question of the day Do you? Do you train your brain? Huh? Do you work on that mental? Like that mental toughness up there between the years uh now Fitness doesn't lie But that is the question of the day and if you want to dive more into mental toughness and how I develop it in my life You can click on either of these boxes shown up on your screen right now And that is the end of today's vlog. Thanks for watching. Thanks for tuning in big day tomorrow big day big day See beauty work hard and love each other. See you tomorrow